Thursday, 8 September 2011

JUST A COUPLE OF THINGS, A SNEAKY PEAK, AND A FEW LITTLE GIVEAWAYS ....

Tonight I have a couple of little projects of mine to share with you, a sneaky tease peak, some giveaways, and a little challenge. Things have been very busy for us at Crafty Individuals this year - we usually have a bit of a slow down in the middle of summer - but not this year, which is fantastic of course, but it also means I don't get as much time to craft and design. Most designing gets done in the middle of the night, or the early hours of the morning these days, and my boys (aged 18 & 20) even say to me 'isn't it about time you went to bed?!', as they pass me still on the computer on their way to bed after coming in from a nightclub. Anyway this tends to mean that my crafting projects at the moment are often quickies.

The first item is a tag I made using distress stains and stamp CI-271 from the Elements Collection. I added some vintage lace I picked up in a 'collectables' shop, some flowers and scrim, an earring, bits of ribbon and topped it all off with an image from our Secret Garden 2 glossy sheet. I did a little machine sewing around the image, which I really like, when I can be bothered to get out the machine that is.

The second item is a little round frame (and you know how much I like these!) from Tando, that I started decorating at The Craft Barn demo day a few weeks ago using stamp CI-325 and some of our background papers, plus to follow - a piccie of some of the lovely ladies who joined us on the day!

Now I want to give you a sneaky peak at a few of the pages of a new CI background book, that is currently at our printer's being made up. I just can't wait to see this finished as it was a long time in the making (partly due to that lack of time I have to design these days) and its our favourite book so far. Called 'Shades of Summer' it features vintage inspired flowers, birds and birdcages, in pretty pastel colours, and also has the bonus of a few more pages inside than the existing background books do too. Hopefully it will be ready to launch along with the next batch of new stamps in a few weeks time, so watch this space!

At this point I would like to present a few giveaways (we do like to give things away, here at Crafty Individuals!), and I thought it would be nice to give a little something occasionally to some of my lovely followers, as I don't get a chance to thank you all personally. So tonight I thought I would give a little surprise gift to my very first follower - apwilkinson2001, my most recent follower to date - Carol, and a follower from somewhere in the middle - Butterflies. So if you are mentioned here please email us at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk to claim your little prize package of CI products. I will be doing this again on a different basis from time to time so do keep an eye out if you are a follower, just in case your name is mentioned in the future.

To finish off tonight I have a little challenge for you set by Malcolm. If you read this blog regularly you may have noticed that Malcolm had a week's visit up in the far reaches of Scotland recently, when he attended a photography workshop with Bruce Percy. One of the photographs he took is displayed below, and Malcolm would like you to take a guess as to where this photo might have been taken. To give you a clue - it was on an island, so get those maps out!

If you would like to take a guess please send your answer in an email to us, again at info@craftyindividuals.co.uk, and the first correct answer will received a package of CI goodies. So go on, give it a go, it is open to all and really you have nothing to loose do you?!

Gorgeous artwork as always Jean, both so beautiful.I recognise a face in the photo there too and I'm not sure she'll like the expression on her face!Malcolm's photo is so stunning and atmospheric, a real wish you were there one.Fliss x

Gorgeous artwork Jean, as always! I love Malcolms photo too. I'd love blown up to A1 size and hanging in my home. I'm guessing it was taken on a beach! Have a fab weekend with maybe a couple of early nights? Sam x

Always a pleasure to stop by the CI blog, such a pretty vintage blue tag,loving the angel glossy image & the frame is stunning. Can't wait for more new stamps & as for the new papers they are just gorgeous. x

Especially love your round frame Jean and the new papers look lovely, but I think your Seaside papers will be very hard to beat!Malcolm's photo is fabulous, I don't know if the misty smokey water was created by a long shutter speed/delay or some jiggerypokery on Photoshop but it's a fab effect.

It was taken on the ISLE oF ARRAN.

In my atlas there are an awful lot of Scottish Islands, so I took advantage of my brain cell being round the front and visited the photographer's website.Ha! No flies on me today, unless of course I got it wrong...

Malcolms photo is lovely. I'm from Scotland and not sure where it is. If that's the mainland, the hills are low so it's not the Hebrides. Might be Bute!!If that's a quick tag - my goodness it's gorgeous!!Siobhan

About Me

I am an artist and designer, and delighted to be a co-owner of Crafty Individuals (alongside my best friend and business partner - Malcolm Noble), who primarily design and make rubber stamps for the craft industry, together with other arty and crafty products.
We are based in the North East of England, in an industrial area, but which is also surrounded by the most beautiful countryside.
I am mother to two lovely (nearly all grown up) boys.